Irish finish first: BT, Saint Francis win

Notre Dame head coach Tim Bisci wasn’t overly impressed Friday afternoon after his senior football team clinched first place and home field advantage throughout the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association playoffs with a 15-6 road victory over the Saint Michael Mustangs.

“There’s a lot of bad that needs to be corrected,” he told his team after it had pushed its record to 5-0 with its victory over the Mustangs (3-2).

“We are on our fourth long snapper and we have gone through three centres on our offence. We are not in sync now because we haven’t had the same group in every day,” he said. “It’s getting tough but the fact that we are winning is great and defensively we are playing tough. One time we blew a coverage today and it cost us six points. At the end of the day and to play in this kind of weather with the situations that we are going through it’s great we came through with the win. We just have to figure out in the next three or four days who can play, who can snap the ball, and who can play offence and defence and get stuff done.”

Notre Dame got it done statistically Friday with 22 first downs and 362 net yards of offence but only managed 15 points.

“We had a bad block on the goal line. That’s a touchdown. We had another chance and we blew it,” Bisci said. “Even last week I thought we left 28 points on the field. We have to finish on offence and if we start doing that these games aren’t going to be that close.”

He agreed Saint Michael played the Irish tough.

“And BT played us tough last week. That is the tough thing about our league is that you come into these games and we come out beaten up. Our league doesn’t do our champions any favours.”

Saint Michael head coach Brian Carter loved his team’s gritty performance.

“The kids did what we wanted them to do this week. We wanted them to come out and battle every play and put all their energy into the game of football and not think about the side emotions that deter you from being your best. And that what they did,” he said. “They focused on the guy in front of them, they competed and I was very proud of them today.”

The Mustang defence bent but rarely broke all day.

“It was unbelievable and once again they were taking on some really big guys. They over-sized us at multiple positions but the guys never gave up. They kept battling and battling and getting off the ground and doing it again.”

The Mustangs now travel to BT to play the Thunder in the semifinals.

“We have to get better in the O line. We have some pieces in the backfield that we can work with. We just have to get a little bit better with our individual blocking,” Carter said. “Once we get that taken care of, hopefully we can do our best and we are looking forward to a good rematch and hopefully a positive result.”

STATS PACK

IRISH 15 MUSTANGS 6

Cat’s Caboose Players of the Game: Notre Dame’s defence which held Saint Michael to 13 yard net offence for the first three quarters of the game.

For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: two one-yard TD runs by Justin Savoie; two-point safety by defence.

For the Saint Michael Mustangs: 22-yard TD pass from Austin McRae to Angel Diaz; fumble recovery by Christian Chauder; interception by Max Marinas.

Game stats: First downs: ND 22, SM 5. Net offence: ND 362 yards, SM 86 yards. Turnovers: ND 5, SM 0. Penalties: ND 7 for 65 yards, SM 3 for 10 yards.

Up next: Notre Dame will host Saint Paul in the NCAA semifinals Thursday while Saint Michael with travel to Blessed Trinity.

THUNDER 28 GATORS 8

The Blessed Trinity Thunder improved to 4-1 in NCAA action with a 28-8 victory over the Lakeshore Catholic Gators (1-4) in NCAA senior action at Kiwanis Field.

The game was tied 8-8 heading into the final quarter.

Leading the way for the Thunder were: Aidan Sartor with a rushing TD; Ryan Broome with a rushing TD and a receiving major; Caleb Olomide with a rushing TD; Ethan Rakonjac with two extra points; Thomas Kelly with a tackle for a safety;  Olomide and Trevor Evans with fumble recoveries; and, Tyson Wong with an interception.

“The team had another slow start, struggling on offence at times, but got it going in the second half. Defence played well overall, producing some much needed turnovers when it mattered,” Blessed Trinity head coach Sean Jones said. “Lakeshore was very physical and tough and kept coming hard. They made it a very hard-fought game. They’re a very well-coached team.”

For Lakeshore: Nick Jubinville had a one-yard yard quarterback keeper for a score and passed to Devon Dulmage for a two-point convert; Dulmage had a sack; and the defence recorded multiple sacks.

“Our guys went toe-to-toe for most of the football game and I am very proud of them,” Lakeshore head coach Bernie Tessier said. “We will work hard in the off-season and come back better in 2024.”

PHOENIX 24 REDS 0

The Saint Francis Phoenix (2-3) closed out the season with a 24-0 victory over the Denis Morris Reds.

Powering the Phoenix to the win were: Keishon Johnston with two TD receptions from Cameron Mepham; Trent Dobson with a 50-yard TD catch from Mepham; Gavin Paxton with a 35-yard field goal; and, Elijah Jama with an interception.

“We were very strong defensively today with a shutout as a result. The defence stepped up the pressure on every play and limited their weapons on the ground,” Saint Francis head coach Mark Johnson said. “Kudos to the big guys that play both ways and gave us strong play on both sides of the ball. Having student athletes such as Elijah Jama, willing to play outside their normal positions also helped our team compete this year. Offensively, we went back to basics and decided to run a much simpler scheme with a focus on execution. This resulted in a strong passing attack while still allowing us to run the ball when needed.”

It was a good way to end the year for Saint Francis.

“Overall given this is our first season with a varsity squad since 2019, the players and coaches are very happy with our results this season and look to nurture our younger team in the offseason to come out strong in 2024,” he said.

For Denis Morris: the defensive line played well and stopped the Phoenix from running the ball effectively; Ryken Millard had three quarterback sacks; quarterback Lincoln Marsh-Hall threw two long passes to Cole Kelly in the second quarter on a drive that ended in an interception on the goal line; the Reds defence had its own goal-line stop at the end of the half when the score was 7-0; and, Lincoln Marsh-Hall totalled 50 yards rushing.

“After the game, I congratulated 12B players Tyrae Klaassen and Luca Marcone, who played their last game as Reds,” Denis Morris head coach Steve Roach said. “Klaassen stepped up as running back during the last week and Marcone fought through a sore ankle to try to help the team. Though we are not satisfied with our record this season, I am proud of how hard they competed. They are showing a lot of promise for next season, and the players are eager to get to work at getting better.”